Abstract des Autors

There is growing international research that documents the life histories of survivors and victims who experienced gender-based violence in sports and, in particular, being silenced by coaches, members of the sports organization, and even parents and siblings. In contrast, this chapter develops insights into organizational silence as a collective-level phenomenon of sports organizations. The theoretical perspective of a recursive social process of agency and social structures, in which social structures act as social frames that mold social action and the options of voice and silence, is used as a heuristic tool. It enables to discern systemic, structural elements that evoke organizational blindness toward gender-based violence in sports or inhibit voice and facilitate silence on critical issues to be addressed. Against this backdrop, the relevance of specific evaluative and cognitive mindsets, formal and informal normative structures, and constellations structures that mold paths to silence is shown.